Another box very similar to the earlier post today. In fact, prior to sculpting the boxes were identical. I took a different approach sculpting this one, and used a different stain on the radiatta pine. I think the result is a more pleasing, masculine look. At least that was my goal! The box is 12” x 8” x 7”h. The lid is hinged on a concealed 3/16” brass pin. The lift out tray is made from 1/4” stock from the same board. Bottoms are 1/4” ply for the box and 1/8” Baltic birch for the tray. Box and tray are lined with black felt. Finish is stain, three coats of brush-on shellac, then paste wax.

I continue to be amazed at how box building can be such a skill challenge. In my case I seem to improve on some things and possibly regress on others. This box is made from radiatta pine. Size is 12” x 8” x 7”h. The lid is hinged on a 3/16” brass pin concealed under flat grain tapered plugs. The lift out tray is made from 1/4” thick material milled from the same board. The box bottom is 1/4” pine ply, and the tray bottom is 1/8” Baltic birch ply. The tray and box bottoms are lined with black felt. The finish is stain, three coats of brush-on shellac, then paste wax. This one doesn’t have a home yet, but with all the kids and grandkids coming for Thanksgiving, maybe someone will take it home.

I made jewelry boxes for my two daughters. My grown (yeah, right!) son said he wanted a box, too. This box varies from others I have done in that it is 5/4 red oak (full 1” thick net). I used this material to allow for deeper carving. The box measures 12”w x 8”d x 7”high. The lift-out tray is 1/4” material milled from the same board. The box is suitable for storing watches, pocket knives, small handguns, and grenades. The bottom os the box and lift-out tray are covered in black felt. The finish is 4 coats of wipe on poly and 3 coats of paste wax.

Like most box guys, I’ve made dozens of these. I’m posting this one because it’s something I did this week. This box will ship out on Monday with one of the guitar stands I posted earlier.

This box is 12”w x 8”h x 5”d and is made of poplar. The drawer pulls are made from cocobolo, and the drawers are flocked with blue flocking. Finish is 4 coats of wipe on poly on the box, 3 coats of paste wax on the pulls. The design is taken from the book “Scuplted Bandsaw Boxes” by Lois Keener Ventura.

This proved to be more of a challenge than anticipated. I had a request from a relative to build a guitar stand. Simple, right? The problem came when I started researching designs. I found nothing out there that I liked! I finally settled on the concept you see pictured—sort of. There were several “in-process” design changes on this project, and I have to say that far and away the best design input came from my wife. I also have to credit her for the great work attaching the leather padding at the base and yoke contact points. She did a beautiful job. Much too meticulous for me! Incorporating leather into the project was new to me, and we probably could not have done it without all the good input I received from fellow LJ members to my forum request for help. Thanks, guys!

The yokes are adjustable to accomodate different guitar sizes and types. There is a bolt coming up through the bottom of the yoke into an insert nut in the bottom of the finial. This bolt is the only mechanical fastener on the project. The stands are put together with hidden dowels and mortise and tenon construction. I made MDF templates for each piece, cut them close on the bandsaw, and finished with a template cutting bit on the router table.

One of these is shipping out as a gift on Monday. I’m sure the other two will be gone soon. We have one son and two sons-in-law that are guitar players. There might be more of these in the future.

We had our three grandkids down to stay with us last week. When they were with us over Spring break we did a lot of neat stuff—the beach, swimming pool, etc. We also spent time in the workshop and each of them built and finished a keepsake box of their own. The plan was to have them over for a week this summer and to my delight they wanted to know what woodshop project we could do while they were here. So this time they each built a simple bird house and also a bird feeder. We let them paint their projects with child-safe paints. They had a blast! We cleared out the center of the workshop, spread a 12×12 plastic tarp and let them make all the mess they desired. The projects we pre-cut kits purchased at a hobby shop. Now we have a new tradition for whenever the kiddos come to stay with Granddaddy and Grandmommy!

Shown in picture #1 is Parker, age 6, Bailey, age 8, and Carter, age 4.

Another sculpted box, this one made for my older daughter. The box is made with radiatta pine from the big box store. I planed it to 1/2” thickness and then cut and assembled the box. The box has a divided lift-out tray, and the tray and box bottom are lined with felt. The tray is made with 1/4” radiatta pine and a 1/8” thick Baltic birch bottom. The sculpting of this box was again done with a random orbital sander, starting with 40x paper and working up to 220x. After that it was hand sanded up to 400x prior to stain. After staining I reverted to sanding with 220x paper again, and sanded to 600x before top coat. The top coat finish is three coats of wipe on poly and then two applications of paste wax. The box measures 11”w x 7”d x 4-1/2”h. The hinge for the lid is 1/8” brass rod.

Sculpted box in red oak. Dimensions are 11”w x 7”d x 5 1/2”h. I resawed and planed the oak to 1/2” thickness, and built the box with mitered corners. I used 1/4” plywood for the box bottom. This is the first box I’ve made with a lift out divided tray. The tray is made with 1/4” thick radiata pine (resawn from 3/4” stock) and a 1/8” baltic birch plywood bottom. The bottom of the box and try are lined with felt.

The sculpting was done with a random orbital sander. I started with 40x paper and worked up to 220x. I have to admit that the ROS is not the optimal tool for this purpose, but it will get the job done. An angle grinder with a carving disc or coarse sanding disc would work faster and better. The finish is stain, 3 coats wipe on poly, then paste wax.

This is a small cocobolo box 5 1/2”w x 3”d x 2”h that I made to hold ear buds and charger for the iPhone. I did not intend to sculpt this box, but felt it looked too plain after finishing. I took it back to the shop and did the sculpting a few days later. This box is made entirely from a small piece of cocobolo scrap. The sides are 7/16” thick and the bottom is a 1/8” thick solid piece, all resawn from 4/4 rough stock. The hinge is 1/8” brass rod. The finish on this box is 3 coats of paste wax. Cocobolo does not like oil based topcoat finishes. Thanks to all the truly skilled box builders on LJ’s. I learn a lot from you guys.

Yes it is… There are some true box-building artists here on Lumberjocks. I do not profess to be one of them. I do, however gain tremendous inspiration and knowledge from them. Thanks, guys!

This box was an experiment. I wanted at thicker (3/4”) box to allow for deeper carving than I’ve done in the past. I’ve been experimenting with carving using my random orbital sander. I also wanted a fairly soft material for ease of carving. This box is made entirely of 3/4” domestic birch plywood except for the bottom, which is 1/4” plywood. I rabbeted the top 1/2” into the sides to keep the top from encroaching on the opening. The core plies of the material are white fir and poplar, which I thought would provide some interesting contrast. I had to stain the box a dark color because the white/green/black of the poplar didn’t look to great with the white fir. After stain the finish is 3 coats of wipe on poly and 2 coats of paste wax. The box is 8”w x 5”d x 4 1/2”h.

This is a green wood turning with sweet gum. Sweet gum is considered a trash wood in our area, and is generally used only for crating, dunnage and firewood. There is some color variation between heartwood and sapwood, but generally it is not considered for fine woodworking projects. I picked up a few large chunks of the wood at work and tried some turnings with mediocre success. This piece is really the only one of the bunch I felt worthy of showing. This hollow form is approximately 6” in diameter. After a rough turning I stored it in a paper bag filled with green shavings for 6 months to dry before final turning. All of the pieces warped significantly during this time, and most checked to the point that final turning was dangerous. The texturing on this piece was done by eye with a parting tool. The finish is General Finishes yellow dye followed by sanding and then an application of General Finishes Merlot dye (dark red). 4 coats of wipe on poly were applied after that with 2 coats of paste wax. The colors remind me of hot lava. I wish my photography skills were good enough to fully illustrate this.

We wanted more storage in the master bedroom, and we didn’t want to replace the MBR furniture we bought when we first married, let’s just say “a long time ago”. I had built a couple of bedrooms for our kids earlier with drawer storage under the bed, so my wife and I designed the drawer base you see pictured here. There are nine large drawers on each side of the king size bed, and three false drawer fronts adjacent to the nightstand. I made the two nightstands on the same design as the originals, except they are obviously taller (36”) to be functional with the new height of the bed. With elders on both sides of the family that are quilters, we also had need for a blanket chest. I designed and built the blanket chest pictured here consistent with the design of the original furniture, all out of radiata pine. I used three Rockler lid stays on the chest to hold the lid in position at any point.

All drawers are constructed with box-jointed 1/2” Baltic birch plywood, 1/4” plywood drawer bottoms, and radiata pine fronts. The drawers all glide beautifully on shop-made wood on wood slides. Through trial and error I was able to work out a combination of 3 different oil stains that matched the original furniture. Finish is 4 coats of HVLP applied poly over stain. This project added the blanket chest and 24 drawers of storage to our bedroom.

A couple of recent boxes made in my shop. The first box (8×5 x 4) is made with big box radiatta pine. It was sculpted in a random pattern with a random orbital sander. I started with 36 grit and worked my way up to 220x. This was my first foray into sculpting. I liked the look of all the sculpted boxes I’ve seen here on Lumberjocks and just had to try it. I used a 1/8” brass pin for the hinges. This box was stained and then 4 coats of wipe on poly applied before a final paste wax.

The second box (7 1/2×4 1/2×3 1/2) is made from cocobolo. The sides are a continuous wrap of the same board. The top is also from the same board, but I selected an area with different grain color. The top reminds me of a sunset. This box was sanded to 1200x, then 4 coats of paste wax applied. I think it’s the smoothest wood I’ve ever finished other than lathe polish.

With three grown kids (two of them married) it can be hectic when they all come to visit at the same time. This is the second of a similar type of small dressing table I built to sit in the bedrooms for the girls when they visit. The dressing table is 38w x 31h x 15 deep, and is pine plywood edged in solid wood. Nothing fancy but very functional. The stool is 17w x 19h x 10”d. This is simple mortise and tenon construction made with hand selected dimension southern yellow pine. I built a router plane and radius fixture to shape the top of the stool. The result is a very comfortable stool. The addition of these dressing tables really helps to free up bathroom time when we have all the kids, grandkids, etc. visiting our home. Finish is oil stain and 4 coats of wipe on poly.

I built these for convenience and mobility since my workshop is 2 bays of our 3-car garage. Sometimes we have a bad storm and I need to get another vehicle inside. The construction technique used for the lathe cabinet was taken from Steve Ramsey’s (Stevemarin) router cabinet project. All the frames are joined with pocket screws, then rabbeted on the router table for the 1/4” plywood panels. The top of the lathe cabinet is 3/4” birch ply, and when I saw the flame in it I couldn’t bring myself to paint it. End caps on the top are waxed cocobolo, and they really pop. You can also see in the pictures I have a fixture that moves in a t-slot in the cabinet top. This fixture holds the big mouth hood for my dust collector, and that works really great. The amount of chips and dust that thing picks up is amazing—expecially when sanding. The lathe cabinet (46w x 33h x 20d) is on 3” locking swivel casters and holds all of my lathe tools and accessories. It nice to have it all in one place.

This is a bedroom set that I made for my younger daughter and her husband for their wedding gift. Unfortunately I didn’t finish it before their wedding, but it was completed before they moved into their new house a few months later. All solid red oak except for the drawer boxes, which are box jointed 1/2” Baltic birch plywood. There are 12 drawers under the bed, 4 in each night stand and the chest has 7. They should have plenty of storage. The radius on the headboard, footboard and crest rails were created using an MDF template I made with a 12’ 4” trammel board. After shaping the crest rails were cut with progressively sized roundover bits to end up with an almost circular shape. All frame and raised panel construction. The drawers operate beautifully on shop-made wood slides. When making the drawer boxes I think I was cutting box joints for 8 hours straight.

This is a bedroom set I made a while back for my oldest daughter and her husband. They use an “air number” bed that’s an odd size between queen and king. Obviously you can’t shop in the normal furniture stores for this bed, and they certainly didn’t like the choices at the store where they bought the air bed.

Similar chest to the one I posted earlier for my son’s bedroom (70” x 36”, 7 drawers), except they did not want pulls on the drawers. I routed a cove on each drawer front for pulls. Frame and raised panel construction on the chest, nightstands and bed. All solid red oak except for the 1/2” Baltic birch drawer boxes which are joined with box joints. Headboard posts are 74” tall. The 2 night stands are 36×36 x 24. Their bedroom is 22’ x 22’ so we upscaled everything.

This is a queen size bedroom set I made for my son a few years ago when he was still at home. We all know the drill—you go shopping for furniture for a room and you can’t stand all the garbage you find in the stores. I told my wife “I can build better than that”. Of course the only problem is it took me two months to complete.

There are 12 drawers under the bed. Drawer construction on all pieces is 1/2” Baltic birch plywood sides with box joints, red oak drawer face. The 7 drawer chest is 70” high. Chest and night stands are frame and raised panel construction. The drawers move wood on wood and are smooth as glass.

All red oak except for the Baltic birch drawer boxes. Finish is 4 coats of poly sprayed with an HVLP gun, then paste wax. This one will be in the family for generations.